You are on page 1of 16

Modal Four-Note Pitch Collections in the Music of Dvořák’s

American Period
benedict taylor

The use of four-note extended triadic harmonies in late-Romantic music is still under-researched,
despite their great significance within this repertory. This article explores the use of four-note col-
lections in the music of Dvořák, specifically the prevalence of modal added-note harmonies in the
music of the composer’s American period (1892–95). It offers a new perspective on the “dual-tonic”
complex by applying the theory of harmonic geometry currently being developed by Dmitri
Tymoczko to triadic-based tetrachords.

Keywords: Dvořák, dual tonic, modality, tetrachord, added note, harmonic geometry

F
or a composer writing in the last decades of the nine- degree there is also an extremely prominent use of pentatonicism
teenth century, a wide range of harmonic techniques, and its concomitant emphasis on 6 in the major mode seen in the
such as the interchange between parallel and relative key works of his American period (here I use the term to include
areas and the fluent movement to mediants through smooth specifically the Symphony No. 9 in E minor [“From the New
voice leading or common-tone modulations, were readily avail- World”], Op. 95, the Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96, the Quintet in
able, indeed commonplace. Such features are of course already Eb, Op. 97, and the Violin Sonatina in G, Op. 100, all dating
found in the music of Schubert and the early Romantics, and by from 1893).2 The well-publicized association of these two fea-
the second half of the century formed part of a wide-ranging tures with African-American or Native-American music is not
and flexible array of harmonic possibilities on which composers my present concern;3 rather, I am interested in the musical inter-
could (and were no doubt expected to) draw. These aspects action of these two aspects—the use of the Aeolian lowered lead-
of late-Romantic harmonic language have received continued ing tone in the minor and the “pentatonic” sixth in the major.
theoretical scrutiny and are comparatively well understood What is striking about the use of such “modality” (by which I
now, not least with the rise of Neo-Riemannian and other as- am designating rather loosely this use of minor natural seven and
sociated approaches in recent years. Nevertheless, two impor- pentatonicism) is its ubiquity in these pieces. These features are so
tant and often interlinked aspects of late-Romantic music have omnipresent that it is sometimes indeed more fitting to conceive
not been so widely theorized: the use of modality and supra- of the governing tonic triad—a three-note pitch collection—as
triadic chordal entities.1 being extended by a further “modal” note; thus the “E minor” of
What we see added to this underlying base of available har- the “New World” Symphony is not grounded in a three-note
monic syntax in much of Antonín Dvořák’s work is just such a hierarchical harmonic sonority of {E, g, b} but by the four-note
further emphasis on modality. This feature is notable most obvi- {e, g, b, d} “modal” collection shown in Example 1.
ously through his predilection for using the Aeolian natural sev- Two prominent examples from the Symphony clearly dem-
enth in the minor mode (for illustration one need only think of onstrate this idea:
the opening themes from any of the last three symphonies or the
cello concerto)—a feature that has naturally aided perception of 1. The opening of the Scherzo, as shown in Example 2(a).
the composer as Slavic. In addition to this lowered-seventh Here the superimposed dyads {E, B} and {G, D} form
an evocative accompanimental harmonic field of
I would like to thank Dmitri Tymoczko for the initial impetus for this
study in his graduate seminar on the Geometry of Consonance at Prince- 2 Other works from these years include the Suite in A for Piano, Op. 98; Bib-
ton and for his helpful comments on these ideas at a later stage, and lical Songs, Op. 99; Humoresques, Op. 101; and the Cello Concerto in B
Michael Beckerman for kindly sharing his considerable Dvořák expertise. minor, Op. 104, several of which are relevant in their use of pentatonicism
1 Important accounts of modality in the nineteenth century have, however, (see, for instance, Beveridge [1977] and Beckerman [1996]). There is some
come from Nicole Biamonte (1998) and (of especial relevance here) leaning towards pentatonic construction in earlier works: the Quartet No. 1
Jeremy Day-O’Connell (2002 and 2007) relating to pentatonicism. Four- in A, Op. 2 (1861), for instance, emphasizes 6 prominently in several move-
note chords have begun to receive more attention in the last decade: see ments as a consequence of its cyclical thematic construction (cf. Schick
Childs (1998), Gollin (1998), and Bass (2001), who are concerned primar- [1990, 18–24]), as does the Symphony No. 2 in Bb Major, Op. 4 (1865).
ily with the dominant/half-diminished seventh tetrachord (Forte set-class 3 On the biographical and political ramifications of these aspects of
4–27); also see briefer accounts in Douthett and Steinbach (1998) and Dvořák’s music, and the fraught question of national/ethnic style, see
Hook (2002, 111–12); and Hook (2007) and Hunt (2007), both concern- Clapham (1966 and 1971), Beckerman (1992b), Alexander (1994),
ing the relation of triads to seventh tetrachords. Schick (1994), Philippi (1995–96), Hamm (1996), and Pisani (1998).

44

MTS3201_03.indd 44 26/03/10 4:33 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 45


   

example 1.  Hypothetical addition of a fourth note to the E minor triad

(a)

5
3
 4  
           
 
3
 4              

(b)
 4            
287
           
4        
  
4   
   
 4     


example 2(a & b).  Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, use of four-note “modal” collection {e, g, b, d}. Dvořák: Symphony
No. 5 [9], “From the New World,” Op. 95. Edition Eulenburg No. 443. Eulenburg, n.d., London-Zürich-New York.
(a) Third movement, opening, mm. 5–10; (b) Fourth movement, coda, mm. 287–88

{e, g, b, d}—a verticalization of this governing four- While such four-note chords directly replace triads only oc-
note collection. casionally, there is little doubt that in compositions of Dvořák’s
2. The fourth movement’s coda, the striding bass-line of American period, the additional fourth note becomes hierarchi-
which, {E–G–B–D}, forms an arpeggiation of the same cally more important than the remaining notes of the diatonic
four-note collection, seen in Example 2(b). (or chromatic) scale. For example, though the highly-pentatonic
opening phrase of the Quartet, Op. 96, uses solely the five notes
This feature ties in with the prevalence of themes with a of the pentatonic collection, twenty-six out of the twenty-seven
prominent lowered seventh, as shown in Examples 3(a) and notes in the melodic line (mm. 3–6) are from the four-note {F,
3(b). Essentially, almost every theme in the minor within this A, C, D} collection, with the remaining G used as a brief (six-
Symphony has a prominent lowered subtonic.4 teenth-note) passing note; and the accompaniment is entirely
Likewise, in the major, looking to the Finale’s coda again we restricted to this four-note collection. Whether the additional
find in the final resolution from E minor (modal seventh) to E note is heard as part of the tonic collection or, conversely, is
major a “pentatonic” four-note collection—the reiterative bass line juxtaposed with it, Dvořák’s music of this time is saturated with
E–G–B–C shown in Example 4.5 This presentation accords with the prominent modal addition both in harmony and melodic
the prevalence of major-key themes with a prominent added sixth. line. Thus it is fitting to think of an optional “added-note”
Examples can be found in all four movements, as shown in forming a coloristic background to the triad, sometimes of equal
Examples 5(a)–5(e).6 status, sometimes lesser, but consistently of greater importance
than the other non-triadic notes.
In this article, I will be developing a model to explore the use
4 The only significant exception is the first movement’s first subject, which of this modal added note in Dvořák’s music and its potential
makes use of the raised leading tone in the harmony, and even this theme implications. Thus this essay will offer an adaptation of the no-
moves quickly in sequence to the relative major (G), thus immediately
tion of the double-tonic complex formulated by Robert Bailey
naturalizing the seventh degree (d) and resulting in a conjunction of E
minor and G major governing areas that fill out the Em+n 7 collection. and extended by several of his followers for the music of Wagner
5 The apparent antonymic designation “pentatonic” four-note collection is and other later nineteenth-century composers, which forms a
used for descriptive convenience, signifying the “added-sixth,” four-note broad theoretical backdrop for my ideas here.7 Nonetheless this
tonic collection resulting from pronounced pentatonic writing. Whether
this is conceived of as a “major triad plus 6” or a “pentatonic collection 7 See especially Bailey (1969 and 1985), and the essays contained in Kinder-
minus 2” is irrelevant to the current discussion. man and Krebs (1996). This technique is not of course confined to the
6 See Day-O’Connell (2002, 61 and 2007, 38–40) for a succinct account of later Romantic period: in several earlier nineteenth-century pieces (such as
pentatonicism in the second movement. Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in Eb, Op. 12 [1829], Chopin’s Scherzo

MTS3201_03.indd 45 26/03/10 4:33 PM


46 music theory spectrum 32 (2010)

      
(a) 1
4      
 8   
e

(b)
2
91

 4                    
g

 
                              
(c) 46
 

c

(d)
   
10
       
 
e

    
                 
(e) 44


e

example 3(a–e).  Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, themes with lowered-seventh degree. (a) & (b) First movement,
introduction and transition themes, mm. 1–4 and 91–94; (c) Second movement, central section, mm. 46–49;
(d) & (e) Fourth movement, first subject themes, mm. 10–13 and 44–45

 4                     


340

 4                         
    
4    
  4        

example 4.  Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, fourth movement, use of four-note “added-sixth” collection
{e, g , b, C }, mm. 340–44

paper will approach the topic from a slightly different perspec- horizontal-contrapuntal requirement of minimal movement
tive, starting from a consideration of triadic-based tetrachords (efficiency) in voice leading, and the harmonic corollary that
within a more abstract theoretical context. this is maximized when the two vertical sonorities (chords) in
question are structurally similar, which crucially depends on the
four-note collections: use of the “basic sonorities of traditional western tonality [that]
some theoretical considerations divide the octave nearly evenly.”8 Both major and minor triads,
for instance, are one semitone away from forming the aug-
If we were going to extend the harmonic structure of the mented triad that would divide the octave evenly into three per-
tonic triad by one note, which note would we wish to add? Here fectly symmetrical parts. Perfect evenness in itself (i.e., the use
the discussion becomes more theoretical, and I will be drawing of transposition cycles—tritones, augmented triads, diminished
(albeit lightly) on the theory of harmonic geometry recently de- sevenths, whole- and semitone scales) is not actually that inter-
veloped by Dmitri Tymoczko. According to this theory, much esting: for a start, the resulting harmonies are further removed
Western music is based on two interlinked principles: the from the simple consonant ratios of the harmonic series, and
the range of transposition and inter-set modulation is more

No. 2 in Bb minor, Op. 31 [1837], and Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49 [1841]), 8 Tymoczko (Forthcoming, 2:27), quotation taken from Tymoczko (2007,
the relative major and minor act as a fused (or Janus-faced) tonic; see, for 330), original article Tymoczko (2006); I would like to thank Tymoczko for
instance, Kallberg (1985, 274), Rosen (1972, 26, n. 1), Rosen (1980, 368– kindly allowing pre-publication use of his work here. Some of these issues
69) and Rosen (1995, 47). From a different angle DeVoto (1995) also pertaining to the acoustical consonance and voice-leading optimization of
touches on some of the issues I raise here in relation to the nineteenth- the tonal triad have also been given from a Neo-Riemannian perspective in
century Russian repertory. Cohn (1997).

MTS3201_03.indd 46 26/03/10 4:33 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 47

2
    
(a) 149

 4      
G

          
(b)

7

                      
D

             
(c) 26

             
D

 3       
(d)
       
68

 4     

E

           
            
67

 
(e)

example 5(a–e).  Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, themes with added-sixth degree. (a) First movement, second subject, mm. 149–52;
(b) & (c) Second movement, opening theme and its variation, mm. 7–12 and 26–28; (d) Third movement, Poco Sostenuto,
mm. 68–74; (e) Fourth movement, second subject, mm. 67–75

limited.9 In other words, for forming a four-note chord we seventh seen in Example 7(b) is perhaps preferable within a tonal
would require a near-even division of chromatic pitch space, like context in light of its stricter conformity to the familiar harmonic
the triad, but now into four parts. There are several possible system—a discreet Aeolian tint, not the one-stage more modal/
combinations for this, but by narrowing down the range of op- less tonal Dorian. This latter option will result in a {0,3,7,10} col-
tions to those that add one note to the existing tonic triad the lection or, in E minor, {e, g, b, d}.
number diminishes. Likewise, in the major, the two most-even distributions are
Four possibilities exist for adding a note within the space of added 6 or b7, as given in Example 8. Here, adding the sixth as
five semitones between 5 and 8 (the largest unfilled interval) for in Example 8(a) is smoother, more in conformity with the tonal
both major and minor triads, several of which are familiar to scale (as opposed to the lowered seventh of the Mixolydian
listeners. The two most nearly-even possibilities are given in the mode, which might also imply a dominant seventh in need of
middle two rows of Example 6;10 the outermost, more asym- subsequent resolution). Hence we find our familiar “pentatonic”
metric, ones are less common in late-Romantic music. added sixth {0,4,7,9}. Thus, as the above examples demonstrate,
In the minor, then, as Example 7 illustrates, the two most both the minor +b7 and major +6 sets found in the music of
symmetrical options would be the addition of either the major Dvořák’s American years are straightforward (perhaps even ob-
(Dorian) sixth, or the lowered (Aeolian) seventh to fill out the vious) candidates for four-note pitch collections that extend the
space of a fourth between 5 and 8. tonic triad by one note.11
The major sixth shown in Example 7(a) creates a more nearly- These are, to be sure, not the only possible candidates for
even collection, as the resulting chord is only one semitone away four-note collections. One of the alternative four-note sets, for
from the perfectly-even diminished seventh (for this the “fixed” instance, is used by Dvořák in his Quartet No. 10 in Eb, Op. 51,
G of the triad would have to move to Gb/F), though the lowered (Example 9), the opening harmonic accompanimental field of
which, {Eb, G, Bb, D}, adds a piquant blur of major 7 within the
9 See as well the brief account by Richard Cohn (2000, 100–01). tonic triad. This addition of the major seventh to the major
10 Throughout much of this paper I will assign integer pitch-class labels so
that 0 is associated with the root of the given chord, rather than using
prime forms (Forte), as befits the more traditional tonal syntax of the music 11 The addition of major sixth and minor seventh degrees to the triad were
considered in this case. Thus both my {0,4,7,9} “major added-sixth” and the two possibilities for four-note chordal entities countenanced by Ra-
{0,3,7,10} “minor modal-seven” tetrachords are equivalent to Forte 4-26, meau in his Nouveau systéme of 1726 (and the later Génération harmonique
given in prime form as {0,3,5,8}. I will explore the inversional symmetry of of 1737), though invested by him with functional attributes as, respectively,
these two sets below. extended subdominant and dominant chords.

MTS3201_03.indd 47 26/03/10 4:33 PM


48 music theory spectrum 32 (2010)

example 6.  Four-note additions to the major and minor triads that divide the octave near-evenly

C C
B C# B C#

B D B D

A E A E

G# E G# E

G F G F
F# F#
(a) Minor triad + major sixth (b) Minor triad + minor seventh

example 7(a & b).  Four-note near-even additions to a referential C minor triad, given in circular pitch-space

C C
B C# B C#

B D B D

A E A E

G# E G# E

G F G F
F# F#
(a) Major triad + major sixth (b) Major triad + minor seventh

example 8(a & b).  Four-note near-even additions to the C major triad, given in circular pitch-space

MTS3201_03.indd 48 26/03/10 4:33 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 49

minor (+b7) 3 4 3 2
 
1

     major (+ 6)  4 3 2 3

 
     
         example 10.  Interval chart of minor +b7 and major +6
         four-note collections

 
example 9.  Dvořák, String Quartet No. 10 in E b, Op. 51   =  
^ ^
(1879), first movement, mm. 1–2. Dvořák: Quartet No. 10 in E E minor +7 G major +6
flat major, Op. 51, in Antonín Dvořák, Five Late String
Quartets, Dover: Mineola N.Y., 1986 example 11.  Pitch class equivalence of E minor +7
of G major +6 collections
triad, which is familiar in the twentieth century from jazz usage,
combines tonic and mediant triads into one chord.12 Another perfect dyads instead (that as a consequence contain two third-
common four-note sonority in late-Romantic music is the half- related triads within themselves). The tritone is found in the
diminished seventh formed by the minor-triad + major sixth “Tristan” collection, but here the restless, unstable feel has argu-
{0,3,7,9} considered earlier, celebrated of course as the “Tristan” ably taken on a paradoxical quasi-stability through its very fa-
chord. This four-note added collection is found copiously in miliarity as a signifier of unfulfilled longing. The other three
music from this time; Dvořák’s own Biblical Songs, Op. 99, dat- sets given in Example 6 are all quite dissonant in sonority and
ing from his American years (but generally written in a more are correspondingly rarely encountered within Romantic and
mainstream post-Wagnerian harmonic idiom distinct from that post-Romantic music, at least as harmonic simultaneities.14
of his “Americanisms”) feature it in abundance. By the end of
the nineteenth century, it would become quite common to add the “pentatonic” and aeolian four-note sets
the major sixth to the minor triad to create such an extended
tonic-minor chord.13 Returning to the four-note collections outlined initially,
The other four-note sets, however, are less common, at least these two particular groupings contain a significant quality not
as quasi-stable harmonic entities. The major triad plus lowered found in the other sets. Both tetrachords, belonging to the Forte
seventh is one of the most familiar of all harmonic sonorities in set-class 4-26, are not only identical with each other (when re-
tonal music but, since sonically identical to a dominant seventh, voiced), but also inversionally symmetrical. The first point is
would seem constantly to be positing a resolution to a putative made clear in Example 10, demonstrating that the minor ver-
tonic. One reason is the tritone contained within, which creates sion is just a translation of the major transposed down a minor
an unstable interval in need of resolution, and it is noteworthy third. This of course corresponds very conveniently to standard
that all three four-note collections utilized by Dvořák studied modal relative behavior: G major + 6 relates to E minor +n 7 just
here avoid the use of the tritone, consisting of two consonant as G major relates to E minor, shown in Example 11.15

12 Not perhaps coincidentally given the highly “organic” texture of the open-
ing bars, the harmonic layout of this quartet’s exposition is similarly formed 14 A few examples of minor key added forms spring to mind: Puccini actually
from third relationships, moving from Eb up through G minor, then Bb, to ends Madama Butterfly with the harsh minor +b6 (here a B minor {b, d, f ,
the exposition’s close in the surprising key of D minor, mirroring at a g}), and by the 1950s Bernard Herrmann would utilize the minor +7 col-
higher level this four-note entity. (More precisely, harmonic areas are ar- lection in his music for Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which plays with the harmonic
ranged around the mediant and submediant of the conventional tonic and weightlessness engendered through the contained augmented triad. The
dominant, thus adding C minor to this heady harmonic mix: [Eb–c–g, Bb– major +b6 is even more uncommon (one rare instance is found in the climax
g–d].) Joseph Straus has pointed to Stravinsky’s use of the same Eb major- to the third movement, Romanza, from Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Sym-
seven tetrachord as the basis for Dumbarton Oaks (1982, 266–68). Straus’s phony). In fact the first two examples above use the “Tristan” four-note
consideration of “tonal axes” in Stravinsky’s music has some interesting collection to a more significant extent throughout.
overlap with my points below concerning Dvořák’s own usage. 15 Only one other pair of four-note sets translate directly to each other, and
13 A locus classicus of extended four-note harmonies is the initial phrase of the this is by transposition by a major third in the opposite direction: the major
finale of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the opening sonority of which is +7 {0,4,7,11} set to its rare minor +b6 inversional twin {0,3,7,8}, the inter-
an unstable first inversion extended B minor + ()6 “Tristan” collection, re- vallic content of their sets being {4,3,4,1} and {3,4,1,4} respectively. In
solving (not unlike Tristan) through dominant-, diminished-seventh and other words, a G major (+7) would be the twin of B minor (+b6), in con-
augmented-sixth chords to a further dominant seventh. This characteristic tradistinction to the G major–E minor mapping of the pentatonic and
B minor + 6 sonority is found in later works such as Sibelius’s Tapiola and Aeolian sets. The four remaining added-note sets tabulated above do pair up
even in the languid oscillations of Gershwin’s “Summertime.” Puccini’s into inversional equivalents (i.e., form two Forte set classes) but are not di-
music is similarly rich in examples of such coloristic harmonic extension; rectly translatable to their twin form (i.e., they must first undergo inversion),
the “Tristan” collection as extended minor triad is used, for example, and hence are considered distinct entities here. While in set-theory terms a
throughout Madama Butterfly, and likewise by Mahler at the opening of his half-diminished seventh might be identical to its dominant seventh inver-
Seventh Symphony. sion, in tonal music the two are definitely not the same.

MTS3201_03.indd 49 26/03/10 4:33 PM


50 music theory spectrum 32 (2010)

(a) 4-note collection on C (b) C major scale collection


C C
B C# B C#

B D B D

A E A E

G# E G# E

G F G F
F# F#
Additional two notes (F & B)
create the tritone

example 12(a & b).  Inversional symmetry of four-note and C major scale collections

(d) C major triad inverts to


(c) C major triad A minor triad (R)
C C
B C# B C#

B D B D

A E A E

G# E G# E

G F G F
F# F#
Hence four-note collection is composite of T and R versions of tonal triad

example 12(c & d).  Inversional non-symmetry of C major triad and translation onto relative minor triad

This attribute, then, smoothly integrates the modal added- is symmetrical around the tritonal poles D and Ab.16 This quality
note features into what could be the standard tonal plan of a is distinct from the C major triad, which itself maps onto the A
symphonic sonata-form exposition: in the “New World” minor (relative) triad, as can be seen in Example 12. This diagram
Symphony, E minor (with modal seven—prominent especially shows clearly how such a four-note collection effectively com-
in the introduction) moves (via a modally altered G minor typi- bines the two—tonic and relative—into one composite entity.17
cal of Dvořák) to a pentatonic G major. Both are based on the Dvořák makes frequent use of this attribute, exploiting its po-
four-note collection {e, g, b, d}; thus tonic and relative forms tential for the motivic construction of melodies. Example 13
of the two four-note modal collections above are identical. shows a number of pentatonic or Aeolian themes from the
Essentially “modulation” between added-note tonic and relative
sets is trivial, since the constituent notes of the second are al- 16 The diatonic major scale itself differs by the added imposition of the sec-
ready exhausted in the first set, the two mapping onto each ond, fourth and seventh scale degrees, the former creating the full five-note
pentatonic scale collection, the latter two creating a latent internal tritone
other. The relative is fully contained in the tonic, and vice versa. absent from the four- and five-note collections.
The further theoretical feature of this collection is its inver- 17 This feature offers a new slant on the hypothetical major-minor inversional
sional symmetry, shown in Example 12. Like the C major dia- dualism familiar from such nineteenth-century theorists as Moritz Haupt-
tonic scale, this collection (when correspondingly formed in C) mann, C.F. Weitzmann, Arthur von Oettingen, and Hugo Riemann.

MTS3201_03.indd 50 26/03/10 4:33 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 51

(a)
            
II: 66
          
  

    
IV: 10
      
 

            
IV: 44

    
(b) I: 3

    


68                    
II: 3



34         
      
III: 1



2    
IV: 5
  
4        

IV: 69 (transposed from A  to F)


        
  

(c) I: 1
 3   
   4     


I: 63

                      

II: 9
  
          
 

example 13(a–c).  Quasi-symmetrical motivic construction. (a) Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor; (b) Dvořák, String Quartet in
F major, Op. 96. Dvořák: Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, in Five Late String Quartets, Dover: Mineola N.Y., 1986;
(c) Dvořák, String Quintet in E b, Op. 97. Dvořák Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Violoncello in Eb Major, Op. 97,
Edition Eulenburg No. 306. Eulenburg, n.d.

MTS3201_03.indd 51 26/03/10 4:33 PM


52 music theory spectrum 32 (2010)

 
  
instrumental works of his American years that markedly dem-
onstrate internal symmetrical structure. Most often this takes     
E  +6 Gm+ 7 = B  +6
the form of a central emphasis on the two adjacent pitches de- ^ ^ ^
fining the added-note alterity of the collection (5–6 in the
major, 7–8 in the minor), surrounded by an outlying third. In
example 14.  Four-note “modulation” in Dvořák’s String
other words, the melodic line is symmetrically balanced around
Quintet Op. 97, first movement
a (non-present) axial note semitonally dividing this whole-tone
step between adjacent thirds.
To be sure, this is not to claim that Dvořák thought of these conventional in this respect. But such pieces do demonstrate
four-note collections in quite the same way as I am theorizing other ways of manipulating the pitch-class duplication of two
them here. Historical evidence seems to suggest that he was modal sets instead.
most likely consciously thinking of a more common 5- or In the Quintet, Op. 97, the first movement articulates a “mod-
6-note modal scalar collection—pentatonic in the major, a six- ulation” between two four-note sets as part of a three-key exposi-
note Aeolian (1–2–3–4–5–n7) in the minor—when writing tion, moving from I pentatonic, via iii modal-7 to V pentatonic,
these pieces.18 But his music clearly privileges the two added- so the second stage of this three-key exposition is, as a result, the
note degrees I speak of over the remaining non-triadic notes in minor twin of the eventual dominant secondary area (that is to
the two major/minor collections, and thus the composer’s own say G minor +n7 = Bb +6). Thus, as can be seen in Example 14, a
intentions concerning this matter are not crucial for this ana- conventional modulation is effected up a fifth from a {eb, g, bb,
lytical construct of how we might understand his music. c} set to {bb, d, f, g}. Similarly, the second movement, the
Scherzo, has a markedly pentatonic second theme in D major
further implications of such contrasted with a slower B minor +b7 central section.19 And at the
four-note collections: highest level, in the Quartet, Op. 96, a highly pentatonic F major
in movements I, III and IV is matched by the second movement’s
i. larger-scale harmonic prolongation and D minor +n7, all four movements being permeated by the four-
inter-set voice leading note collection {c, d, f, a}.
As we have seen, by utilizing such four-note modal sets From a (rather idiosyncratic) Schenkerian perspective,
Dvořák is able to link the primary and secondary tonal areas of then, much of Dvořák’s music from this time can be seen to be
the Ninth Symphony’s first movement by their duplication of composed against a background prolonging an extended tonic
the same four-note pitch set—a design that is found in another entity (in the expositions of Opp. 96 and 97 moving to a fur-
work from these years, the Cello Concerto, which is similarly ther middleground tetrachordal set), a concept comparable to
structured with an equivalence between the opening Aeolian B Robert P. Morgan’s idea of dissonant prolongation.20 This
minor and a gently pentatonic-inflected secondary tonality of D goes further than the customary use of the double-tonic
major. But this conceit only works for a movement conforming complex for earlier music, such as that of Schubert, Chopin or
to the conventional minor key sonata tonal plan, not for major- Wagner,21 in that owing to the superimposition of the fourth
key pieces. A I→vi progression as a sonata-form exposition non-triadic note, the two tonics do not stand in oppositional
would be quite unconventional. Remarkably, this design is actu- relationship but rather are completely integrated into one an-
ally found in the Violin Sonatina in G major, Op. 100 (G pen- other.22 The music does not so much alternate between two
tatonic major to E minor modal-seven), which, written several polar tonics as conflate them—as a simultaneity—into one
months after the other three works considered here, might rep- broader collection.
resent Dvořák’s most radical working out of this idea in what is The notion of tetrachordal modulation seen in Op. 97 can
paradoxically one of his simplest-sounding pieces. The other furthermore be used for understanding the closing section of
two American works examined here, the F major Quartet and the “New World” Symphony. Here we see an interaction of par-
Eb Quintet, which again feature prominent pentatonic sixths allel and relative forms of the underlying tetrachordal set that
in the major and modal sevenths in the minor, are more tie into strands of a tonal argument operating across the work’s
four-movement span.23 The slow movement—the famous

18 Michael Beckerman has pointed to an article entitled “Negro Music” at-


tributed to Johann Tonsor (probably a pseudonym of Mildred Hill) pub- 19 One could also stretch the point by relating the (slightly pentatonic) B
lished in the periodical Music, December 1892, which Dvořák almost major main theme of the Scherzo to the mildly Aeolian Ab minor of the
certainly read (a copy has been found in his library), and was a probable third movement.
influence on his own later statements on African-American and Native- 20 See Morgan (1976).
American music. In the latter Dvořák writes of the use of the pentatonic 21 See Bailey (1985), Kinderman (1980, 102–06), and Krebs (1996).
scale (“a peculiar scale, caused by the absence of the fourth and seventh, or 22 This aspect has been incorporated by Christopher Lewis (1984) into his
leading tone”) and the minor scale (in which the seventh is “invariably a more extensive formulation of the double-tonic complex in the music of
minor seventh, the fourth is included and the sixth omitted”), Dvořák Gustav Mahler.
(1893); see further Beckerman (2003, 84–87, 148–49; the original article by 23 I will be designating the tetrachordal modification of the familiar triadic
Tonsor is reproduced in the appendix). neo-Riemannian P, L and R operations as P’, L’ and R’ respectively.

MTS3201_03.indd 52 26/03/10 4:33 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 53

       


P'
    
P' P'
= R'
P'
       
example 16.  Parsimonious P’ transformation between
modal tetrachords

example 15.  Transformations in Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 half-diminished seventh) tetrachord,26 for the 4–26 set under
consideration two pitches remain fixed while the other two move
by a semitone in contrary motion (a perfect fourth expands to a
Largo—is in Db, the somewhat unusual lowered leading-tone of perfect fifth or vice versa, illustrated in Example 16). In other
the symphony’s home E minor, and significant for its essential words, this P’ transformation is parsimonious.27
monotonality, contrasting the (rather pentatonic) Db main sec-
tion with an enharmonic C minor (+n7) central section, hence
A straightforward small-scale juxtaposition of major and
minor P’ forms is found in the last four measures of the exposi-
containing both major and parallel minor versions of a Db tetra- tion of the Quartet, Op. 96. Example 17 shows that the writing
chord collection (i.e., {Db, F, Ab, Bb} and its P’ form {Db, Fb, Ab,
Cb} or {C, E, G, B}).24 In the Finale’s coda, the comparable
is here restricted entirely to the governing four-note collection,
transference from the E minor +n7 to its P’ form of E major +6,
although the added note is heard more as an inflection to the
essentially triadic harmony.
noted earlier, follows the standard generic practice of minor-to- Such transformations are particularly prevalent in the Ninth
major resolution expected in a large-scale symphonic work. But Symphony (the only large-scale minor-to-major key structure
this major added-note collection on E is naturally a different
pitch collection {e, G, b, c} from the minor {e, g, b, d}.
under consideration), which necessarily undergoes a deep-level
Rearranged, it forms a relative minor twin on C—that is to say
P’ transformation. A clear example of this shift can be seen in the
Scherzo’s first and second themes (E minor +n7 to E major +6),
{c, e, g, b}. C minor is of course the P’ form of Db, the key given in Example 18. Both voice leadings here are prepared mo-
of the Largo, and is itself contained within that movement. In tivically: the D to C through the bass line at the climax to the
other words, the apparently dissociated tonalities of E minor first theme (E–Dn–C–Cn–B in the horns), playing with this cru-
and Db major are finally relatable through a P’R’P’ transforma- cial semitonal shift, and the G to G through a motivic linkage
tion shown in Example 15, the constituents of which are found technique (G–F –E separates out to G–F , in turn shifting to
individually within the second and fourth movements. Here, G–F  before the entry of the second theme).28
finally, in the closing pages of the Symphony, is found some Finally, at the largest level one could view the motion from
form of resolution to the E minor–Db major harmonic polarity the first-movement exposition’s E minor +n7 and G major +6
that has run across the four movements of the work.25 (prolonging a {e, g, b, d} tetrachord) to the tonalities of g/Ab
This point brings us to the more general question of voice and c/Db in the first-movement recapitulation and second
leading and transformational operations between four-note sets, movement as a large-scale tonicization of this P’ (minor to
and ways in which Dvořák might knit such voice-leading rela- major) voice leading {G→G; D→C} (though admittedly the
tions into the tonal fabric of his music. As noted, the total dupli- parallel is not exact as the pitch class D is not itself significantly
cation of pitch classes in R’-related sets essentially neutralizes any tonicized in its own right within the symphony).
differentiation between the two tonics of a double-tonic complex The third relations governing the expositions of the Quartet,
and hence any significant contrast in harmonic areas. The P’ rela- Op. 96, and Quintet, Op. 97, also present new transformational
tionship is mildly more interesting here, in that two notes change possibilities for these tetrachordal sets. In both works the model
between the four-note collections. In common with a quality is the same: a T7 transformation from a major added-sixth tet-
found with certain operations on the 4–27 (dominant and rachord to that a fifth higher, in both cases used in its relative

24 A reason for this might lie in the work’s compositional genesis: as John
Clapham has shown (1958, 172), a sketch for the eventual first theme of 26 That is to say, the parsimonious transformation between two chords of this
the opening movement was written in F major, not the final E minor. A Db same class that hold two pitch classes in common (e.g., moving between C7
slow movement in an F major symphony is not so unusual. and F 7, when the pitch-classes E and Bb stay constant and C→C, G→F ;
25 The first movement, unusually, recapitulates the original G minor/G major or between Cø7 and F ø7, when C and F  are fixed and Eb→En, Bb→A). The
transition and second subject themes in G minor and Ab major, offering if classic example of the former is found in the Coronation Scene from Mus-
anything a further harmonic alienation from the tonic E minor. This tonal sorgsky’s Boris Godunov; for the latter see especially Bass (2001), and Lewin
anomaly might subsequently be related to the ensuing Largo movement in (1996, 207–8).
Db, functioning as a large-scale, inter-movement dominant. Thus the 27 See Douthett and Steinbach (1998, especially 243–44), after Cohn (1997)
added-note aspect outlined above is just one strand of numerous different and Childs (1998).
but intersecting processes, relating potentially to the nexus of thematic 28 C is also prepared in this passage in the bassoon part, now from its lower
connections found between movements and the wider hermeneutic quali- neighbor Cn (suggesting a traditional minor-major inflection of 6). For a
ties of this symphony. See on this last point the accounts by Beckerman model of this notion of middleground voice leading between two dissonant
(1992a), Hepokoski (1993a), and Winter (1994). prolongations, see Straus (1982).

MTS3201_03.indd 53 26/03/10 4:33 PM


54 music theory spectrum 32 (2010)

         
40
4
  4                         

4      
   4       

example 17.  Dvořák, String Quartet Op. 96, first movement, mm. 40–43: tetrachordal voice leading for P’ transformation

   
 3       
(a)
  
41
  
 4      


 3                    
 4         

3
(b)

       
64

4        
     
    
    
    
     
 43          
                  


example 18(a & b).  Applied P’ voice leading in Dvořák, Symphony No. 9, third movement, mm. 41–44 and 64–67

minor twin form a third higher—in Op. 96 followed by the a dissonant suspension to the dominant chord) are resolved
straightforward P’ transformation {a+n7→A+6} considered into the triadic writing, although the “new” added note F no
above, in Op. 97 by the even closer R’ relation {g+n7→Bb+6}. A sooner returns on the last beat of the bar. The other voice leading,
hypothetical model for a parsimonious T7 voice leading be- C–D, is also found in the bass (mm. 58–59). In Op. 96 Dvořák
tween these two added-note harmonies is given in Example 19. presents a variation on an underlying triadic Leittonwechsel trans-
As can be seen, the addition of the fourth “modal” note implic- formation by chromatically raising the added-note pitch to form
itly changes the voice leading of the remaining triad, which a German sixth underscoring this shift, shown in Example 21(a).
would have been a familiar L transformation (F→a or Eb→g). Even more notable is the harmonic retransition back to the F
In practice, Dvořák’s writing does not entirely abandon major of the exposition repeat—the inverse (T5 or “D”) transfor-
more conventional functional relations (such as approaching mation, given in Example 21(b). The A minor +n7 → F(+6) pro-
the new harmonic area through its dominant rather than by gression can be split into constituent functional (V–I) and
direct chromatic voice-leading) and his music retains an es- parsimonious voice leading (L transformation) components, usu-
sentially triadic underpinning, though the implications of the ally exclusive systems that are fused in this composite entity.
added note are still significantly manifested. In the transition Most complex of these voice leadings is the P’R’P’ (in this
of Op. 97, shown in Example 20, the four-note model voice case a P’T9) relation, found in the “New World” Symphony be-
leading Eb–F is emphasized throughout the eight-measure pas- tween the E minor of movements I, II and IV and the Db of II;
sage by its incessant highlighting in the first violin part. At the no note is held in common in this transformation, the two P’
cadence to G minor (mm. 62–63) these notes (heard tonally as operations each changing two pitches (see Example 15 above).
For this Dvořák devises the novel and celebrated succession of
chords opening the Largo as a link, given in Example 22.
   This progression is likely to have been conceived for its col-
oristic expressive effect, but even here we can observe details
relating to this distant harmonic transformation. It hinges on
example 19.  Hypothetical model for a tetrachordal the reharmonization of the E–F step (adumbrating the crucial
T7 transformation “P” C minor/Db major difference), initially combining this with

MTS3201_03.indd 54 26/03/10 4:33 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 55

       
50 55 56 57 58 59 63
       
       
        

example 20.  Voice-leading reduction of Dvořák, String Quintet Op. 97, first movement transition

3–21 24 25 26 Voice-leading Components

   
      
43 1

        
 
L as Ger. 6 V - I L

(a) (b)

example 21(a & b).  Dvořák, String Quartet Op. 96, first movement. (a) Tetrachordal voice-leading progression in transition;
(b) Tetrachordal voice-leading progression linking to exposition repeat

  
1

           

                      


           
        

example 22.  Opening of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, second movement, mm. 1–4, progression from E minor to D b major

the associated added-note B–Bb step {c+n7/Db+6}. This distinc- This usage is particularly apparent in the Quintet, Op. 97,
tive passage recurs in modified form in the Finale’s coda, now the first movement of which suggests a more nuanced reading
locked into E minor, and finally in liquidated form in the tonic of this theory as a stacking up of two triads with two notes in
major. common. The imperfect cadence leading to the restatement-
transition at the end of the Eb first theme (mm. 39–42) alter-
ii. smaller-scale nates Bb (dominant) and G minor (mediant) chords, both of
The examples given above lay some claim to providing an which will become dual secondary tonal areas of the exposition,
overall pitch-class consistency or linear voice leading at the level finally resulting in a composite added-note, dominant-like en-
of the movement or multi-movement structure in Dvořák’s tity (m. 42) that combines these two triads into the four-note
works, which, whether or not theoretically convincing, is un- collection that will underpin the second and third themes of the
likely to be readily perceived by many listeners. Beyond the op- exposition, shown in Example 23. The commonality of the
eration at a larger harmonic level as a “unifying” feature, it pitch classes D and Bb to both chords is emphasized by their
might in fact be more useful to think of this technique primarily retention in the prominent first violin part throughout these
as a lower-level harmonic device. Thus conceived, it is used as a measures.
means of conjoining a coloristic, harmonic-melodic device with The second theme reflects this equivocation in its ambiguity
an extended reach of the tonic triad that allows fluid movement of harmonization, hovering between G minor and Bb,30 while its
between relative major and minor areas. In the outer move- continuation shows the notes of this set being used in a pivot
ments of the “American” Quartet, Op. 96, for instance, a function—the pitches g–f–d (8–7–5 in G minor) reinter-
strongly pentatonic F major enables an extremely smooth inter- preted as 6–5–3 in Bb. Thus the underlying collection is here
play between the dual tonics of F major and D minor, as both being used in a fairly standard “thematic” manner to relate
triads are contained in the opening four-note pentatonic collec- themes in different keys that share the same notes, facilitating
tion {F, A, C, D}.29
30 A related technique is seen in the harmonic sequences of the development
n
29 This is also a characteristic trait of much “folk”-based art music (see De- section, the music moving easily in regular eight-bar phrases b+ 7→D+6;
+ n7 +6
Voto [1995]) and is widely found in twentieth-century, folk-influenced d →F outlining a chain of R→P relations that extend a familiar se-
rock music (a good example is Bruce Springsteen [e.g., “Backstreets,” “The quence (a (–, 0, 3) UTT in the terminology of Hook [2002]) into an even
Promised Land,” “Streets of Fire”]). more integrated four-note conception.

MTS3201_03.indd 55 26/03/10 4:34 PM


56 music theory spectrum 32 (2010)

   
39   3       
      

   
     
       
 
  4       


 
    
     
  
          

 3        
    4           


example 23.  Dvořák, String Quintet Op. 97, first movement, mm. 39–43, juxtaposition of chords iii & V

3       
1 37
     
 4  
  
 3           
  4            
     
       
  3                   
 
 4       
     

example 24.  Dvořák, Violin Sonatina in G, Op. 100, first movement, first and second subjects, mm. 1–4 and 37–38.
Dvořák: Violin Sonatina in G, Op. 100, G. Schirmer (LB1932), New York, n.d.

the movement from G minor to the eventual destination of Bb. supra-triadic added-note harmonies with both the typical ma-
The same idea is found in the first movement of the Violin jor-minor relative transference, and the common-note triadic
Sonatina, Example 24, in which the first theme’s crucial me- mediant transfer of Romantic music—most basically Dvořák’s
lodic pitches b–d–e–b, 3–5–6–3 in G, are rearranged in the interest in third relationships and major-minor interplay that is
second theme as b–e–d–b, 5–8–n7–5 in E minor. ever-present throughout his music, and which is taken to a
Another way to think of this trait, then, is as a mobile three- more extreme degree in later works such as the G major
note collection drawn from a stable four-note set, with two Quartet, Op. 106. Thus this feature finally relates the theoreti-
pitches fixed (in a {C, E, G, A} set, C and E), and one mobile cal account above to the general themes of harmonic exten-
or floating between two possibilities (G and A), shown in sion—major-minor, third-relations, common-note triadic
Examples 25(a) and (b)—that define the variable (A) minor or transfer, et cetera—outlined at the start of this essay.
(C) major quality, demonstrated in Examples 25(c) and (d).31
This conception emphasizes the more conventional triadic tonal implications and concluding thoughts
quality of the music whilst still allowing for the ambiguous du-
ality of tonic and relative minor resulting from the additional The theory outlined above is not a key to unlocking all levels
“modal” note.32 It is only on particular occasions that Dvořák of these pieces but rather describes one of several coetaneous ele-
will sound all four pitches together for a richer, more evocative ments of Dvořák’s harmonic practice. Other traditional features
or harmonically obfuscating effect. These procedures suggest a still operate, such as the alternation of major and minor modes
probable origin for the added-note technique proposed in this (see for example the introduction of the Quintet, Op. 97), or ex-
article, as the conjunction of modal experimentation and richer tensive mediant/third relationships (such as the first movement
of the Quartet, Op. 96).33 Dvořák was never a narrow-minded or
31 In a similar (though not identical) manner, in Dvořák’s minor-key usage, single-aesthetic composer, and, just as with his “Czech” and
the motivic figurations may just as often suggest a gentle oscillation be- “American” nationalisms, he will happily incorporate a new style
tween individual tonic and (minor) dominant chords (supporting constitu- or feature into a more general basic language.34 It is also valuable
ent degrees 1–3/7–5) as one monolithic four-note harmonic entity. to consider some musical reasons why this is the case.
32 This particular reading conforms exactly to the definition of Robert Bailey’s If a four-note modal collection essentially means that ex-
double-tonic complex: “Either triad can serve as the local representative of tended tonic and relative chords are identical in pitch content,
the tonic complex. Within that complex itself, however, one of the two ele-
ments is at any moment in the primary position while the other remains
larger-scale harmonic contrast will be needed. As David
subordinate” (1985, 122). In support of this formulation, it should be noted n
that the occasions on which Dvořák uses all four pitches as a simultaneity 33 The layout of the exposition of this movement [F+6→a+ 7→A+6], for in-
n
are less common than instances in which one (the added note) seems more stance, could easily have been written as a three-key exposition [F+6→a+ 7
+6
[=] C ] along the lines of the Op. 97 quintet.
a coloristic addition to an essentially hierarchical tonal triad, though such
four-note sonorities do certainly appear within the pieces under discussion. 34 See Beckerman (2003, 10–19).

MTS3201_03.indd 56 26/03/10 4:34 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 57

C C
B C# B C#

B D B D

A E A E

G# E G# E

G F G F
F# F#
(a) Two fixed pitches (b) One floating pitch

example 25(a & b).  Mobile three-note collection drawn from a stable four-note set

C C
B C# B C#

B D B D

A E A E

G# E G# E

G F G F
F# F#
(c) A minor (d) C major

example 25(c & d).  Variable (A) minor or (C) major quality

Beveridge observes, repetition and harmonic stasis are used to an music as just one component of a wider range of common nine-
unprecedented degree by Dvořák in the works of his American teenth-century harmonic techniques.
period, which is perhaps why this pitch-class duplication was so As the above points demonstrate, there are several further di-
attractive for the composer for a time, but even these will need rections in which an investigation of this topic can be taken—an
varying eventually.35 Just as later composers would find with en- exploration of other four-note pitch-class sets and their voice
tirely whole-tone writing, entirely pentatonic or “pan-Aeolian” leading and modulatory possibilities, for instance—and, I suspect,
music will soon outstay its welcome. As Tymoczko’s theory im- many aspects or implications of this theory that are not fully ex-
plies, despite the near-even division of pitch space, the quality of ploited in Dvořák’s music.37 The four-note “pentatonic” collec-
inversional symmetry exhibited in these four-note collections tion, furthermore, has a long history as the added-sixth chord in
will, on its own, result in rather static music—in this respect these Romantic music, and the relationship of this feature with other
sets are not near-symmetrical.36 In its extended harmonic realm, added-note/extended-triadic harmonies in the music of
difference—the contrast of relative major and minor—becomes Dvořák’s contemporaries is likewise ripe for further research.38
assimilated into near-identity. Thus in this context, it is no sur-
prise that these added-note collections are found within Dvořák’s 37 This latter point is made not as a criticism of Dvořák but, rather, to suggest
that his music is more varied and idiosyncratic than anything to which a
35 Beveridge (1980, 379–81). theoretical system can reduce it—no doubt to its lasting benefit. For a brief
36 Cf. Tymoczko (Forthcoming, 3:42): “In Western music, inversional sym- account of alternate half-diminished and dominant-seventh chord series in
metry is almost always exploited alongside the symmetries arising from the first movement of Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, see Bass (2001, 50–52).
near evenness or near unevenness. On its own, inversional symmetry is 38 To give one prominent example, the famous C major added-sixth closing
relatively sterile, as it allows a composer to link a chord to only one of its of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde can be read following this theory as the
inversional forms.” twin of the opening A minor 8–n7–5 [–3] of “Das Trinklied von Jammer

MTS3201_03.indd 57 26/03/10 4:34 PM


58 music theory spectrum 32 (2010)

 2       
                                                        
18

 4 
               
  2         
 4            

     
   

example 26. Grieg, “Jeg går i tusen tanker,” from 19 Norwegian Folksongs, Op. 66, No. 18, mm. 18–23. Grieg, 19 Norwegian
Folksongs in Edvard Grieg, Klavierwerke, vol 3: Bearbeitungen eigener Werke, Peters Edition (EP3100C), Leipzig, 1992.

The investigation of extended four-note harmonies in the music and its reception, situated as it is on the margin between a
of such composers as Dvořák, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, or Puccini Germanic “mainstream” and the perceived “otherness” of Czech
might shed more light on an important aspect of late-Romantic or American musical nationalism.
harmonic practice: the extension of the tonic realm to encompass What we can at least say at this stage, though, is that modal-
a wider and richer harmonic base, an alternative outcome of the ity and added-four-note collections were clearly a useful re-
post-Wagnerian heritage from the continually postponed tonic source for composers such as Dvořák with a penchant for
arrival celebrated in one line of music from Tristan und Isolde to harmonic inventiveness, and that the pentatonic concentration
Schoenbergian atonality.39 As the example from Grieg’s 19 of his American years, in conjunction with the modal minor
Norwegian Folksongs, Op. 66, shows (Example 26), within this lowered seventh that permeates his entire output, demonstrated
practice a relatively simple diatonic melody can be clothed in rich a new potential for combining such sets.
tetrachordal harmonies, obfuscating (though never denying) the
tonic by blurring it with vi and extending triadic harmonies by works cited
adding seventh or ninth degrees (pure triadic sonorities are re-
tained only for two structurally important points). Such a con- Alexander, Peter. 1994. “Tracking the Wrong Indians: A Case
ception, characteristic especially of music traditionally read (at of Mistaken Identity.” Czech Music 18: 52–64.
least from the perspective of Germanocentric historiography) as Bailey, Robert. 1969. “The Genesis of Tristan und Isolde and a
nationalist or geographically “peripheral,” offers a static yet vi- Study of Wagner’s Sketches and Drafts for the First Act.”
brant enrichment of the tonic chord, bringing new interest to a Ph.D. diss., Princeton University.
familiar musical or ethnic “home”—a home that we are always in ———. 1978. “Das Lied von der Erde: Tonal Language and Formal
or around, but, like the chimera of national identity, continually Design.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
slips away from precise formulation.40 These wider hermeneutic American Musicological Society, Minneapolis, 19–22 October.
implications are of significance for understanding Dvořák’s music ———. 1985. “An Analytical Study of the Sketches and
Drafts.” In Richard Wagner: Prelude and Transfiguration from
der Erde,” both sharing the four-note collection {C, E, G, A} (as noted “Tristan und Isolde” (Norton Critical Score). Ed. Robert Bailey.
earlier by Robert Bailey [1978]). In this article I have considered only tet- New York: W. W. Norton.
rachordal added-note collections, though five-note triadic-based collec-
Bass, Richard. 2001. “Half-Diminished Functions and Trans­
tions occur with increasing frequency in the twentieth century, particularly
with the rise of pandiatonic writing. An interesting early case is Granville formations in Late Romantic Music.” Music Theory Spectrum
Bantock’s Hebridean Symphony (1913), which ends on a G major added- 23 (1): 41–60.
sixth + added-seventh {G, B, D, E, F}, divided into superimposed G Beckerman, Michael. 1992a. “Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Largo and
major, E minor and B minor triads. ‘The Song of Hiawatha.’ ” 19th-Century Music 16 (1): 35–48.
39 This description suggests further the affinity of the extended harmonic tech- ———. 1992b. “The Master’s Little Joke: Antonín Dvořák and
nique with the Wagnerian Klangfläche formulated by Dahlhaus (1989) and the Mask of Nation.” In Dvořák and His World. Ed. Michael
further developed by James Hepokoski in his consideration of Sibelius’ music
Beckerman. 134–54. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
(see Hepokoski [1993b, 27–29]). That these two harmonic tendencies are
not always as polarized as the above sketch may imply is also suggested by ———. 1996. “Dvořák’s Pentatonic Landscape: The Suite in A
the twin Schoenbergian formulations of extended “floating” and “suspended” major.” In Rethinking Dvořák: Views from Five Countries. Ed.
tonality (see Schoenberg [1978, 383–84] and Dahlhaus [1980, 54]). David R. Beveridge. 245–54. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
40 As Richard Taruskin asserts, in the nineteenth century “the unmarked na- Beckerman, Michael B. 2003. New Worlds of Dvořák: Searching in
tive tongue for music was (like it or not) German;” nationalism was there- America for the Composer’s Inner Life. New York: W. W. Norton.
fore “something only ‘others’ possessed or professed . . . something attractive Beveridge, David. 1977. “Sophisticated Primitivism: the Sig­
but limiting.” Dvořák was of course equally adept in the “unmarked” Ger-
nificance of Pentatonicism in Dvořák’s American Quartet.”
man language of, for example, Brahms and in the more self-conscious na-
tionalism of the Slavonic Dances, but made his name with the latter. Indeed, Current Musicology 24: 25–36.
in Taruskin’s opinion, Dvořák valued his own musical Bohemianness “as an Beveridge, David Ralph. 1980. “Romantic Ideas in a Classical
element of exoticism—a manner of presenting the self as other.” Taruskin Frame: The Sonata Forms of Dvořák.” Ph.D. diss., University
(2005, 3: 346, 767). of California, Berkeley.

MTS3201_03.indd 58 26/03/10 4:34 PM


four-note pitch collections in dvořák 59

Biamonte, Nicole V. 1998. “The Modes in Romantic Music.” Kinderman, William. 1980. “Dramatic Recapitulation in Wagner’s
Ph.D. diss., Yale University. Götterdämmerung.” 19th-Century Music 4 (2): 101–12.
Childs, Adrian P. 1998. “Moving Beyond Neo-Riemannian Kinderman, William and Harald Krebs, eds. 1996. The Second
Triads: Exploring a Transformational Model for Seventh Practice of Nineteenth-Century Tonality. Lincoln [NE]:
Chords.” Journal of Music Theory 42 (2): 181–93. University of Nebraska Press.
Clapham, John. 1958. “The Evolution of Dvořák’s Symphony Krebs, Harald. 1996. “Some Early Examples of Tonal Pairing:
‘From the New World.’ ” The Musical Quarterly 44 (2): 167– Schubert’s ‘Meeres Stille’ and ‘Der Wanderer.’ ” In The Second
83. Practice of Nineteenth-Century Tonality. Ed. William
———. 1966. “Dvořák and the American Indian.” The Musical Kinderman and Harald Krebs. 17-33. Lincoln [NE]:
Times 107 (1484): 863–67. University of Nebraska Press.
———. 1977. “Indian Influence in Dvořák’s American Chamber Lewin, David. 1996. “Cohn Functions.” Journal of Music Theory
Music.” In Colloquium Musica Cameralis Brno 1971. Ed. 40 (2): 181–216.
Rudolf Pečman. 147–56. Brno: International Music Festival. Lewis, Christopher O. 1984. Tonal Coherence in Mahler’s Ninth
Cohn, Richard. 1997. “Neo-Riemannian Operations, Symphony. Ann Arbor [MI]: UMI Research Press.
Parsimonious Trichords, and their Tonnetz Representations.” Morgan, Robert P. 1976. “Dissonant Prolongation: Theoretical
Journal of Music Theory 41: 1–66. and Compositional Precedents.” Journal of Music Theory 29:
———. 2000. “Weitzmann’s Regions, My Cycles, and Douthett’s 49–91.
Dancing Cubes.” Music Theory Spectrum 22 (1): 89–103. Philippi, Daniela. 1995–96. “Dvořák’s Suite Op. 98 and
Dahlhaus, Carl. 1980. “Tonality.” The New Grove Dictionary of Humoresques Op. 101 for Pianoforte: American or
Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. 19: 51–55. London: Bohemian?” Czech Music 19: 43–58.
Macmillan. Pisani, Michael V. 1998. “ ‘I’m an Indian Too’: Creating Native
———. 1989. Nineteenth-Century Music. Trans. J. Bradford American Identities in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-
Robinson. Berkeley: University of California Press. Century Music.” In The Exotic in Western Music. Ed. Jonathan
Day-O’Connell, Jeremy. 2002. “The Rise of 6 in the Nineteenth Bellman. 218–57. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Century.” Music Theory Spectrum 24 (1): 35–67. Rosen, Charles. 1972, expanded ed. 1997. The Classical Style:
———. 2007. Pentatonicism from the Eighteenth Century to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. New York: W. W. Norton.
Debussy. Rochester [N.Y.]: University of Rochester Press. ———. 1980, rev. ed. 1988. Sonata Forms. New York: W. W.
DeVoto, Mark. 1995. “The Russian Submediant in the Norton.
Nineteenth Century.” Current Musicology 59: 48–76. ———. 1995. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge [MA]:
Douthett, Jack and Peter Steinbach. 1998. “Parsimonious Harvard University Press.
Graphs: A Study in Parsimony, Contextual Transformations, Schick, Hartmut. 1990. Studien zur Dvořáks Streichquartetten.
and Modes of Limited Transposition.” Journal of Music Laaber: Laaber Verlag.
Theory 42 (2): 241–63. ———. 1994. “What’s American about Dvořák’s ‘American’
[Dvořák, Antonín.] 1893. “Dvořák on His New Work.” New Quartet and Quintet?” Czech Music 18: 72–83.
York Herald, 15 December. Schoenberg, Arnold. 1978. Theory of Harmony. Trans. Roy E.
Gollin, Edward. 1998. “Some Aspects of Three-Dimensional Carter. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tonnetze.” Journal of Music Theory 42 (2): 195–206. Straus, Joseph N. 1982. “Stravinsky’s Tonal Axis.” Journal of
Hamm, Charles. 1996. “Dvořák, Nationalism, Myth, and Music Theory 26 (2): 261–90.
Racism in the United States.” In Rethinking Dvořák: Views Taruskin, Richard. 2005. The Oxford History of Western Music.
from Five Countries. Ed. David R. Beveridge. 275–80. 6 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tymoczko, Dmitri. 2006. “The Geometry of Musical Chords.”
Hepokoski, James. 1993a. “Culture Clash. James Hepokoski Science 313 (5783): 72–74.
Revisits Dvořák’s New World Symphony.” The Musical Times ———. 2007. “Response to Comment on ‘The Geometry of
134 (3): 685–88. Musical Chords.’ ” Science 315 (5810): 330.
———. 1993b. Sibelius Symphony No. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge ———. Forthcoming. The Geometry of Consonance. New York:
University Press. Oxford University Press.
Hook, Julian. 2002. “Uniform Triadic Transformations.” Journal Winter, Robert. 1994. Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, From
of Music Theory 46 (1/2): 57–126. the New World. CD-ROM. Irvington [N.Y.]: Voyager.
———. 2007. “Cross-Type Transformations and the Path
Consistency Condition.” Music Theory Spectrum 29 (1): 1–40.
Hunt, Graham. 2007. “David Lewin and Valhalla Revisited: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 44–59, ISSN 0195-6167,
New Approaches to Motivic Corruption in Wagner’s Ring electronic ISSN 1533-8339. © 2010 by The Society for Music Theory.
Cycle.” Music Theory Spectrum 29 (2): 177–96. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy
or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s
Kallberg, Jeffrey. 1985. “Chopin’s Last Style.” Journal of the
Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/re-
American Musicological Society 38 (2): 264–3l5. printinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/mts.2010.32.1.44

MTS3201_03.indd 59 30/03/10 9:48 AM

You might also like